This past Wednesday I went out to dinner with a few friends, this macrobiotic spot by Union Square, and after we finished the delicious fish soup and seaweed, one sister pulled out a deck of cards. Tarot cards, fairy cards, fortune cards, however you call it, we all did it, staying put at the table till they turned the Christmas tree lights off, letting us know it was time to be up. One of the cards I pulled said, “Be honest with yourself.” But when you’ve learned to lie so well, how then do you get back to being honest with yourself? So I wrote this poem last night. And before I share it with you, I want to let you know that I am chairing a panel on Cinema and Law for the Society of Cinema and Media Studies Conference coming up, and yeah, I’m still writing, but just not blogging or tweeting as much. Maybe I will get back to this practice regularly, or maybe I am simply transitioning away. Either way, thank you for all your comments and for reading. 🙂

there’s so much going on, so much to care about, the poet ishle park wrote that when the japan earthquake hit, the world shifted on its axis, and some of us clipped on our wings. it’s a good time for flight, no? here’s a poem from rumi, i was feeling it so much this morning, running through that grey and green and dog filled prospect park. go brooklyn.

lovers are made aware, by rumi
you make a hundred resolutions to journey somewhere/
but He draws you somewhere else.
He turns the horses bridle in every direction/
so that the untrained horse may know there is a rider.
The clever horse is well paced because it knows a rider is mounted upon it.
He fixed your heart on a hundred passionate desires, disappointed you/
then broke your heart.
Since he broke the Wings of your first intention/
how do you doubt the existence of the Wing Breaker.
Since his ordainment snapped the chord of your contrivance,
how can you remain blind to His command?
Your resolutions and aims now and then are fulfilled
so that through hope your heart might form another intention/
which he might once again destroy.
for if he were to keep you completely from success/
you would despair:
how would the seed of expectation be sown?
If your heart did not sow that seed,
and then encounter barrenness, how would it recognize its submission to Divine will?
By their failures lovers are made aware of their Lord.
Lack of success is the guide to Paradise:
Pay attention to the tradition:
“Paradise is encompassed with pain.”